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DVD REVIEW FOR
"FREEDOMLAND"

(2006) (Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore) (R)

Length Screen Format(s) Languages Subtitles Sound Sides
113 minutes Letterbox (2.40:1)
16x9 - Widescreen
Full Screen (Pan & Scan)
English
French
English
French
Dolby Digital 5.1 1 (Dual Layer)

PLOT & PARENTAL REVIEW

AUDIO/VIDEO ELEMENTS:
Whether in brightly lit scenes or those in dimmer environs or taking place at night, the picture looks quite good. Colors are obviously suppressed in the lower light levels, but are otherwise vibrantly reproduced. Sharpness is uniform, blacks are solid and digital artifacts are all but absent. Beyond James Newton Howard's score (that has some decent bass kick), city sounds are accurately reproduced, while other ambient effects also do the job.
EXTRAS:
  • Scene selection/Jump to any scene.
  • Previews for "Click," "Friends With Money," "Underworld: Evolution," "Little Man," "Marie Antoinette," "Basic Instinct 2," "The Boondocks," "The Forgotten," "The Missing" and "S.W.A.T."
  • COMMENTS:
    In nature, it's usually the males of any given species that are known to kill their offspring. In humans, however, it's the mothers who are just as apt to kill their kids or otherwise abuse them in some unspeakable fashion (that is, at least if you follow the news). Often times, they're loving mothers who, for one reason or another, suddenly snap and things then quickly turn bad from there.

    If she's not careful, Julianne Moore may soon be typecast as one such woman, at least as she appears on the silver screen. While she may have been a great mom in the little seen "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," she wasn't exactly the best mother in 2002's "The Hours" or when she seemingly lost her son in "The Forgotten" two years ago.

    Now she's done something similar in "Freedomland," although this particular disappearance doesn't have anything to do with people suddenly being ripped off the face of the planet and flung into oblivion (which is too bad as that was one cool effect). Rather than going only for the "is the mom crazy" angle that fueled that thriller, however, director Joe Roth is fishing for bigger targets in this dramatic thriller.

    Adapted by Richard Price from his own novel (which is sometimes a good thing, and at others -- such as here - it isn't), the story tackles various levels of racism from various parties, the overall issue of parenting, mental instability and more. Unfortunately, and despite a terrific cast and a compelling if not particularly original premise, the film bungles nearly every aspect and element.

    There's no denying that there's nothing like missing white kids (particularly attractive female teens) to generate nonstop press coverage and mass attempts to find them, while those of color usually don't evoke the same degree of response or care. And then there's the fact that white victims -- who sometimes turn out to be the guilty party -- often finger black men as the perps.

    Both of those topics are addressed here, but while there's lots of yelling, finger pointing and finally a physical clash, this no second coming of Spike Lee's brilliant look at racism and racial issues in "Do the Right Thing." The issues are brought up here, but are never examined and certainly not resolved in any satisfactory manner.

    And in terms of serving as a catalyst for propelling the film forward, they can only go so far. Heck, even the related moments at the beginning of the third "Die Hard" film (where Samuel L. Jackson's character had to deal with Bruce Willis' arriving in his mostly black neighborhood wearing a less than politically correct message board) had more punch to them.

    Speaking of Mr. Jackson, he leads the cast here playing a black cop trying to keep the peace during a missing child investigation that's resulted in a black housing project being blockaded in an effort to flush out the suspected perp. One of those damaged soul and unorthodox cop characters that often appear in such films, the presumably symbolically named Council isn't one of Jackson's better performances.

    He goes through the usual motions ranging from smooth pacifier to bug-eyed, raving intimidator, but neither he nor Roth seem to be able to get a grip on the character. It's not bad, it's just that he's never fully realized, much like the overall film.

    The same holds true for Julianne Moore, a talented actress whose character is decidedly more complex and intriguing (notwithstanding the initial "Forgotten" similarities). Without giving anything away, let's just say she goes through a range of emotions and revelations, although the final one isn't fully clarified (purposefully or sloppily), thus leaving something of a question mark hanging over her character and whether she's a victim or perp herself. Moore's performance seems to vary just as much as her character (which, I suppose, is mostly unavoidable). Sometimes there's subtle greatness, but at others, it borders on too much in the way of histrionics.

    More even keeled is Edie Falco (of "Sopranos" fame) as the head of an organization that searches for missing children. While she doesn't get enough screen time to do her character justice, she does have a terrific scene with Moore where what seems like therapeutic admission slowly segues into psychological interrogation. Falco nails the scene and makes you wish there was more of her and less of the racial elements that end up feeling like cheap ploys to spice up the plot.

    Those aren't the only issues, however, as the film has other problems, such as blatant lapses in logic and/or poor editing. That includes how two characters get in and out of the housing project barricade while no one else apparently can. Then there's Ron Eldard's character -- a cop with a 'tude and one imagines an itchy trigger finger -- who overhears the identity of someone who apparently participated in the boy's disappearance. We see him heading off in presumed full Chuck Bronson mode, but nothing ever comes of that.

    The same holds true for a minor character mentioning to Council that her boyfriend is now beating her. We expect Jackson to go "Pulp Fiction" on that creep, but that scene also appears to have been forgotten or left on the cutting room floor. Similarly, the film opens with "Seven" type credits where images of handwritten notes and more flash at us on the screen, but that's also dumped.

    Named after an apparently fictitious, but notorious and long abandoned children's asylum -- where an incredibly long search scene takes place that (not surprisingly) doesn't do much for the film -- "Freedomland" tries to tackle a variety of societal issues, but doesn't manage to do much of anything interesting or new with the material.

    Freedomland is now available for purchase by clicking here.

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